2016 Winning Photographers

Siyuan Niu

Xinjiang, China

Grand Prize WinnerPhotographer of the Year

Man and the Eagle

Siyuan Niu was born in 1980 and lives in China in the Xinjiang Province.

“The brave and wise Khalkhas live along the mountains in the south of Xinjiang and are companions with the eagles. They regard eagles as their children and train them for many years to hunt. This 70 year old man is rigid and solemn in front of family and friends, but when he is with his beloved eagle, the corner of his mouth would curve up. When the eagles reach mating age, although he is very reluctant, the man releases the eagles back into nature so that they can thrive. A mild heart and exquisite love are covered by his weather-beaten face. He is a tough man with a tender heart.”

Patryk Kuleta

Warsaw, Poland

Modern Cathedrals

Patrick Kuleta was born in Poland in 1978. After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz, he moved to Warsaw and began working as a freelance graphic designer. During this time he also discovered the beauty of photography and of frame-by-frame animation.

“Most of my shots come from Warsaw and one from Strasbourg. The idea was to make it more impressionistic, to show architecture in a completely different way that combines my background in graphic design and painting.”

Robin Robertis

Carlsbad CA, United States

She Bends with the Wind

Robin Robertis travels the world to capture unique and emotionally compelling images. Robin strives to create artwork that invokes deep emotional and magical places found only in the unconscious dreams of those who dare to peek behind the curtain of day-to-day life.

“I was on a iPhone workshop and reunion with a friend and teacher in Cape Cod. We all went out to photograph the the perfect sunset. I tend to bring a few things when I travel, one being this wonderful red umbrella. When others shoot the sunsets and beautiful scenery, I like to photograph some human aspects in these scenes.”

Carolyn Mara Borlenghi

Coral Gables FL, United States

Wonderland

Carolyn Mara Borlenghi is a conceptual photographer living and working in Miami. Carolyn has exhibited in many galleries in the United States and at PhotoFest Houston, and her work has been published in PDN magazine, Saplings Magazine and B&T Australia, among others.

“This image was taken as part of a series I did for instagram’s #WHPwonderland. Each weekend when the hashtag project comes out I try to come up with an idea and this particular weekend, the weekend before Christmas, was wonderland. For this one I went on a little adventure with my son to the beach and we wore the reindeer masks.”

Jiayu Ma

Dallas, TX United States

1st Place – Abstract

Jiayu was born in China and has also lived and studied in United Sates and France. She holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Kansas with Highest Distinction, and is the recipient of the KU Thayer Medal. Her love of architecture and design has been enhanced by her travels around the world.

“When I was visiting The Barnes Foundation, built by Tod Williams + Billie Tsien in Philadelphia, I entered into the main lobby. The double height space made this lobby so open and bright. I was looking at the skyline and I saw a gorgeous light reflected through the ceiling geometry that came into the space.”

Junfeng Wang

Shanghai, China

2nd Place – Abstract

Junfeng Wang is a Chinese architect currently based in Shanghai. He received Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University and worked as an architectural designer in New York City for two years before his return to China. In addition to his daily design work, he loves taking photos with iPhone. He believes the most profound beauty resides in everyday life when the subject is unprepared and undisturbed, and iPhone camera becomes the most effective way to capture those transient beauties he encounters when he is commuting or traveling.

“The photo was taken when I was visiting Casa Prieto Lopez in Mexico City, designed by the legendary Mexican architect Luis Barragan. Standing in this space, I marveled at how elegantly these walls capture the shadow and cut the sky, time becomes almost visible through the slowly moving shadow and drifting clouds.”

Jinsong Hu

Kunming, China

3rd Place – Abstract

Jingsong Hu was born and raised in Kunming, a beautiful city in Western China. He loves to capture the streets, the people and the amazing architecture from his home and other countries with his iPhone.

“I took this photo at the Tibetan area in the Western Sichuan province last year. These Prayer flags with vivid colors are ubiquitous and also a unique feature of the region. I found the biggest Prayer flag at Aba County, with the help of a local Tibetan, I went inside of the Prayer flag, and was quickly attracted to the fantastic colors and took this photo.”

Erica Wu

San Francisco CA, United States

1st Place – Animals

Erica Wu was born in Taiwan and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 17. Erica graduated from the Academy of Art in San Francisco and worked in several multimedia agencies in California. Now she is a Taiwan-based freelance graphic designer and iPhone travel blogger, specializing in photos of animals, street cats, traditional festival and the joyful trains in Japan.

“I started traveling around Japan 3 years ago and have visited all 47 prefectures to discover all kinds of animal spots, including cat islands, cat temples, zoos and farms. My photo was taken in the Miyagi zao fox village while I was feeding the foxes, it was a very a dramatic scene when they all stared at me at the same time so I took out my iPhone to capture the moment immediately.”

Mette Lampcov

Los Angeles CA, United States

2nd Place – Animals

Mette is a freelance documentary photographer who was born in Denmark, brought up in Spain, and later lived in London. She is currently based in the greater Los Angeles area. Mette’s passion is sharing people’s stories connected to culture, politics, and social issues, that she feels are too often ignored by the mass media. She photographed the wise and ball obsessed 9 year old miniature dachshund Milly while hiking in the Santa Monica mountains in Malibu, California.

“Milly is happiness on four very short little legs, wagging her tail all day long, but as the day is long Milly thinks she is a ferocious hunter, regardless of her miniature size.”

Junbiao Cai

Guangdong, China

3rd Place – Animals

Junbiao Cai is from Guangdong, China where he has worked as reporter and editor and has always like street photography. He is a member of the Photographers’ Association of Guangdong Province and beginning in 2015, fell in love with photography using cell phones. Junbiao tells us that mobile photography has become an integral part of his everyday life, and he will continue using it as an instrument to document life and history.

“Yangjiang, Guangdong is famous for the Yellow Bristle Goose. This photo was taken in Lanfeng Village, Pinggang Township, Yangjiang City in the afternoon of February 29th, 2016. At dusk, swarms of yellow bristle geese are marching, quite a spectacular scene, especially with the dust and backlight.”

Jian Wang

Beijing, China

1st Place – Architecture

Jian Wang, currently lives in Beijing China where he is a Director of Photography for movies and TV.

“The photo “China Red” was taken in Beijing Olympic Park, in front of this traditional Chinese red wall. I was fascinated by the great visual effect which was created by the lights and shades.”

Patryk Kuleta

Warsaw, Poland

2nd Place – Architecture

“Most of my shots come from Warsaw and one from Strasbourg. The idea was to make it more impressionistic, to show architecture in a completely different way that combines my background in graphic design and painting.”

Patryk Kuleta

Warsaw, Poland

Patrick Kuleta was born in Poland in 1978. After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz, he moved to Warsaw and began working as a freelance graphic designer. During this time he also discovered the beauty of photography and of frame-by-frame animation.

K K

Changsha, China

1st Place – Children

K K is from Changsha City, Hunan Province of China where he is a doctor.

“The photo was shot in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province in China. Two children were playing with a home-made sled on the frozen Songhua River.”

Siyuan Niu

Xinjiang, China

2nd Place – Children

Siyuan Niu is an iPhone photographer from Xinjiang province in China.

“This is the Tours Hu tribe, a Mongolian Autonomous County in the most remote Xinjiang Province, hometown of Donggui. The Namuda festival is spectacular, especially the horse racing. When the child won it felt just as real as becoming a king. Elders, including his grandfather, will be take his horse around the audience to celebrate the moment.”

Bruno Dreux

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

3rd Place – Children

Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Bruno Dreux is an advertising professional and entrepreneur. He is also a dad to Felipe and Carol and step dad to Gabriela. Bruno pursues iPhone photography in his spare time as a hobby and also as a way to document his family over time.

“This shot was taken in a rural area of Rio called Vargem Grande, where Felipe, 3 years old and my oldest son, loves to explore the motocross track with his wooden bike. On this particular day, he was so excited about the mud and the rain that he couldn’t resist jumping in it. “

Amo Passicos

Prades-le-Lez, France

2nd Place – Flowers

Amo Passicos is self-taught photographer. Amo has peppily tested the hundreds of apps her iPhone offers, with a “first mover” approach. Seduced by the immediacy of images, she shoots her photos with a genuine desire to contribute to the emergence of a new artistic form. She currently lives in the south of France and manages female rock bands.

Qinglan Qu

Newark DE, United States

3rd Place – Flowers

Qinglan Qu was born and raised in Beijing, China. She moved to the United States after graduating from college and is a business analyst in a financial institution in Delaware.

“It was a beautiful March afternoon, brilliant blue skies and gentle kiss of breeze. As I stepped out of my office building in Wilmington downtown, my eyes were caught by those blooming magnolias, they look like delicately pink hearts gently unfurled.”

Andrew Montgomery

Hampton Wick, United Kingdom

1st Place – Food

Born in Romford, Essex UK in July 1969, Andrew studied Photography for 3 years at Blackpool College. He has been working as a freelance photographer for 15 years and currently lives in London with his wife and 2 children and their dog Dottie. In addition to his passion for photography he is trying to make his over-grown garden look somewhere near respectable!

“The image of the Rhubarb came about when I was working with a chef, she had some produce stored in an old outhouse. Fresh Rhubarb has to be stored in dark conditions otherwise it loses its red/pinkness in the stems, and it is unusual to find them with the leafy tops on. I treat my iPhone like a little sketch-book and thought the colours looked beautiful in the subdued light of the out-house so snapped this shot.”

He Kuankuan

Shanghai，China

2nd Place – Food

He Kuankuan is 25 years old, born in Shanghai and now studying in Japan. She loves travel and photography, and likes taking freestyle pictures with her iPhone everywhere all the time.

“This photo was taken in Japan in August 2015, on Kyushu Island, Saga county, in a small village named ‘Yobuko’. This village is famous for squid. The locals hang up the fresh squid near the seaside to dry in the sea wind. When you walk around the seaside, you can often see the ‘flying squid’, a very interesting view.”

Andrew Montgomery

Hampton Wick, United Kingdom

3rd Place – Food

“This image was taken outside an old ramshackle Farm-Shop in Suffolk. The area is known for its Asparagus and the growing season lasts only a couple of weeks, the farmer had just picked the bunches displayed in the photograph within half an hour the majority had been sold.”

Vasco Galhardo Simoes

Lisbon, Portugal

1st Place – Landscape

Vasco Galhardo Simoes, is 21 years old, from Lisbon and is currently studying International Relations with Politics. Vasco has been taking pictures with his iPhone for two years and it’s a hobby he really enjoys.

“This picture was taken on the 5th January 2015 when I was flying back to London where I am taking my course. What you see in the picture is a bridge called Ponte 25 de Abril (a very important day for Portugal). I was really lucky to get this photo because 30 seconds after I took the picture the Pilot changed direction and I stopped seeing the bridge.”

Jason Greene

Los Angeles CA, United States

2nd Place – Lifestyle

Jason Greene lives in Southern California. He takes a lot of pictures of cats.

“This was taken at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery during a screening of Goonies. A few nights every summer there’s an event called Cinespia where they project an old movie onto the side of a big mausoleum that’s in the back of the cemetery. People bring food and blankets, camp out on a lawn and watch a movie together. It’s great. About halfway through the film I looked over and saw that the audience was having this really lovely experience. It was dark so I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get anything, but the screen lit up at the right moment and it worked out.”

Rithwik V J

Tamil Nadu, India

3rd Place – Lifestyle

Rithwik a passionate photographer who loves to explore the outdoors in a creative way using his camera. Rithwik enjoys participating in photo contests around the world and has won awards for some of his photographs. He works as a solution architect in a software company for a living.

“This photo is taken from top of the light house in Chennai in India.”

Junfeng Wang

Shanghai, China

1st Place – Nature

“It was during sunset in White Sand National Monument, New Mexico. I was a bit lost since I walked off the trail and my iPhone had no signal at all, the only thing I could do was follow the wheel marks and footprints left by others, they became the only guide I could rely on to lead me out of this white desert, and to help me fight with my loneliness and helplessness.”

Yang Zhang

Shanghai, China

2nd Place – Nature

Yang Zhang was trained as a computer engineer and began his career as a sales person in Singapore. The biggest change to his photography happened about two years ago when he joined the Instagram community. In addition to seeing many great shots on a daily basis, he started to take a lot of photos with his iPhone.

“This photo was taken during a trip to the Yellow Mountain, a six hour drive from Shanghai. It was a very cloudy day and I was pretty sure I would not capture sunset on the mountain. Nevertheless the sheer beauty of nature held me in awe and led me to explore. As I was climbing some slippery rocks the clouds suddenly parted and sunshine came onto the cliff in front of me. It was a magical moment that unfolded like a scene from a traditional Chinese painting.”

Lei Yuting, Xianyou

Fujian, China

3rd Place – Nature

Lei Yuting, Xianyou was born in China and now lives in Xiamen.

“My photo tells the story of the tree, where we live and my feeling of attachment to the living environment. The fast urbanization has injured our living environment, and the tree of life is reduced, or may even disappear… this tree of life represents the last sigh.”

Loulou d’Aki

Säter, Sweden

1st Place – News/Events

Loulou d’Aki is a photographer born and raised on the Swedish seaside. Her main interest lies in how human beings are affected by the society in which they live and the influence of visible or invisible borders. Middle Eastern based from 2010 – 2015, Loulou d’Aki is currently based in Athens.

“This photo was taken in March 2016, in Athen’s Piraeus port where Syrian and Afghan refugees stranded in Greece after the borders with Macedonia closed, lived in tents. It was a very windy day in the crowded camp and this girl from Afghanistan was playing by herself next to the tents.”

Hernan Ramos

Santiago, Chile

2nd Place – News/Events

Hernan was born on January 12, 1984 in Santiago de Chile. He is a copywriter by profession, but a photographer by soul.

“Chile is a football-loving country, but in 100 years had never won anything. That afternoon in Santiago, our team played the final of 2015 Copa America and I was there with more than 60,000 hopeful Chileans. I looked at the sky, I saw hundreds of red, white and blue flags, I took my iPhone and shot. That day, Chile defeated Messi’s Argentina and was crowned as Champion of America for the first time. Unforgettable.”

Liang Huang

Shanxi, China

3rd Place – News/Events

Liang Huang majored in Chinese painting at Nankai University graduating in 1998, and now works for Beijing Youth Daily as a dedicated news photographer for 15 years. In last 3 years, Liang has taken snapshots with his iPhone more often than with his DSLR.

“On August 12, 2015, a series of explosions happened in the toxic goods depot of Ruihai company located in Tianjin port, swiping nearly everything for 2-3 square kilometers with its blast wave, and causing 165 deaths, 8 missing and 798 wounded. After 1 hour, when ashes of burned goods were still falling like black snow, I was in position at ground zero. And I took the snapshot with my iPhone6.”

Kevin Casey

Pemulwuy, Australia

1st Place – Others

Kevin is an Australian, 60 years old, and a passionate iPhone photographer. He originally used a point and shoot for his photography but in 2013 decided during a trip to China to shoot exclusively with the iPhone5 and I was absolutely delighted with the results.

“This was taken at Botany Bay, Sydney, Australia and is one of my favourite spots during summer. I have taken literally hundreds of shots of the local kids lining up and jumping, diving and doing backflips off this wall; my “models” never fail to deliver.”

Kechen Song

Tempe AZ, United States

2nd Place – Others

Kechen Song, is 22 years old from China but is currently studying business at Arizona State University. Kechen started to take photos almost two years ago because it felt like the perfect way to discover the world and express himself.

“This photo was taken in the summer time of last year in the North South Campground in New York State. My friends and I went to go boating, there were not many people on the beach because of the bad weather. I saw many boats lying down on the beach, they seemed alive to me just like dolphin waiting for people to ride with them.”

Zero Lai

Hong Kong

3rd Place – Others

Zero Lai is from Hong Kong. She considers photography to be her calling in addition to her profession. She tells us that she does not photograph subjects, she photographs the way subjects make her feel and she says that she wrestles with every image she shoots.

“Nature is phenomenal because no matter how many times you look at it, it is always different. Lai Kung is fondly claimed to be the “back garden” of Hong Kong. When I woke up I noticed the window was just like a frame and that nature was in a collaborative mood. Nature is like a painting if we have the eyes to see it.”

Glenn Homann

Ipswich, Australia

1st Place – Panorama

Glenn Homann lives in Ipswich, just outside of Brisbane, Australia. He is a very keen amateur photographer who has taken to the iPhone like a duck to water. He has used it to attempt to uncover the language of photography and to fill the creative hole in his life. His intent is to capture the beauty in everyday life.

“I captured this photo on what was at the time the coldest morning of the year. It was forecast to get down to 0 degrees Celsius. Anything can happen and it did! Beautiful wisps of fog over creeks and waterways.”

Diana Mota

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

2nd Place – Panorama

Diana Mota is a Portuguese freelance graphic designer living in Abu Dhabi and currently traveling the world as a flight attendant. Being a globetrotter with a graphic design background gives her the opportunity to see every journey as a source of inspiration.

“After brief research of the attractions of the capital I was really curious about the Parliament Building designed by Louis Khan. So after a day stumbling down the crazy streets of Dhaka I finally reached this masterpiece of architecture. The bold geometric shapes and reflections in the water created a unique visual impact.”

Jen Pollack Bianco

Seattle WA, United States

3rd Place – Panorama

Jen Pollack Bianco is Seattle-based travel photographer and blogger who runs the multi-media travel diary, My Life’s a Trip. Jen has visited 81 countries so far. She is a graduate of USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

“Anastasia Chernykh and I were on a tour of Iceland and we were exploring the moss colored Eldhraun Lava Field in Iceland. I liked the way her red coat popped against the green moss. The moody sky made it seem like she was a modern-day Little Red Riding Hood in some Nordic fairy tale.”

Xia Zhenkai

Guangdong, China

1st Place – People

Xia Zhenkai is a teacher of Photography at Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in Guangdong, China.

“I was filming some empty lens reflex for my documentary on the riverbank of the Indian Ganges River, then happened to see this man who was bathing in the river and immediately use my mobile phone to take this moment.”

Scott Woodward

Singapore

2nd Place – People

Scott A. Woodward is a Singapore based photographer who calls his photographic style “Choose Your Own Adventure Photography” after the books he used to read as a child. His work is featured regularly in international publications such as National Geographic Magazine, GEO, Condé Nast Traveller.

“I made this photograph of Burmese farmers working in the fields off National Highway 1 between Naypyidaw and Yangon while shooting a documentary film assignment with my creative partners in Myanmar. We noticed the men with working with their oxen on the side of the road and stopped our van so that we could capture the colourful scene for our film. The men acknowledged us but continued working, never taking a break from the grueling labour of bailing giant mountains of hay under the blistering midday sun.”

Yi Lin Hu

Honolulu HI, United States

3rd Place – People

Yi Lin Hu was born and raised in China and moved to Hawaii at age 19, when he started taking pictures. Today Yi Lin Hu is a portrait and fashion photographer.

“This photo was taken on the street in the Latin Quarter in Paris around evening time. I saw a man who seems taking a break outside of the restaurant’s kitchen, staring at the people on the street. At the same moment, I spontaneously picked up my phone from pocket and took a couple of shots while I was talking. I felt like I became invisible because I used a iPhone camera.”

Elaine Taylor

Leeds, United Kingdom

1st Place – Portrait

Elaine Taylor is an iPhone photography enthusiast living in Yorkshire, UK. Her iPhone is her only camera and her two sons are the main subjects of her photographs. Elaine tries to create images that capture them at their most expressive, and to reflect the spirit and magic of their childhood.

“My oldest son, Charlie, had been staring out of a train window as we travelled to London for the weekend. It looked as though he was in some kind of daydream. I took a few sneaky shots before he noticed and turned to looked directly at me. He held his dream-like gaze just long enough for me to take this last shot before the moment was lost.”

Geri Centonze

Corona, CA United States

2nd Place – Portrait

As a teen growing up in Southern California in the 1970’s, Geri Centonze was interested in photography, but the cost and the bulkiness of all the gear required for film photography limited her ability to explore. iPhone photography enabled her to begin the adventure all over again forty years later.

“Inspired by the film, Lincoln, The Ronald Reagan Library in California had a special Lincoln exhibit which I attended. One of the items featured was a bust of Abraham Lincoln by special effects artist Kazuhiro Tsuji. With its stand, the amazingly detailed bust is 6.5 feet tall. I snapped several photos of the piece with my iPhone from different angles.”

Paddy Chao

Taiwan

3rd Place – Portrait

Paddy Chao was born on April 28, 1988 in Taipei, Taiwan. He loves taking spontaneous photos in daily seemingly routine living to capture the easy-to-miss beauty of people, events and objects. He truly believes that a photo, regardless with or without edit, is a good one as long as it reaches into people’s inner world.

“This photo was taken in the evening at The Temple of Kom Ombo, Egypt. An Islamic street cleaner was taking a short break while falling into some deep thought. Time seemed stopped completely and irrelevant to him; I immediately took out my camera and captured this beautiful scene before it was gone.”

Valencia Tom

New York, NY, United States

1st Place – Seasons

Valencia resides in New York City and works as a design and construction professional managing commercial building projects. She aspires to travel the world documenting diverse landscapes, locals and fauna. This desire developed from a shared love for all places, cultures and history with her father.

“I was on my way home after a few hours of shooting outside during Winter Storm Jonas. As I turned back once more to take in my surroundings, I saw the beautiful, but faint image of the Manhattan Bridge in the distance. During a brief pause of activity, I quickly knelt down to snap the photo at the same time a couple stepped into the frame.”

Cocu Liu

San Francisco, CA United States

2nd Place – Seasons

Cocu Liu is a mobile photographer and product designer based in San Francisco bay area. He was born and raised in Beijing, China and lived in Hong Kong and Chicago, IL for many years. He is fascinated by lights, street photography and urban landscapes. He loves taking photos with his smartphone because it is so simple to use and he believes ‘the best camera is the one that’s with you’.

“This photo was taken in Chicago on an extreme cold day in the winter of 2015 (aka. Chiberia). I was looking down to the frozen river with ice floes from the bridge above, what I like about the scene was the geometric shapes and compositional contrast from the high perspective.”

Matthew Sullivan

Westwood MA, United States

3rd Place – Seasons

Matthew Sullivan is an industrial research physicist and avid amateur photographer. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife and two daughters.

“Walking across the Harvard Bridge from Boston to Cambridge on my way to work, I noticed that the Hancock Tower was casting a long, sharp shadow on the frozen Charles River. I could tell that the shadow just made it to the Cambridge side and thought that a shot looking back towards Boston might be interesting. I walked a few hundred feet down Memorial Drive, roughly centered myself in the shadow, and took a few shots with my iPhone. ”

Wen Qi

Guangdong, China

1st Place – Still Life

Wen Qi lives in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. While she is not a professional photographer, she is fascinated by capturing every significant moment he sees.

“This photo was taken at the indoor garden in my relative’s house during Chinese New Year. It was a scarce peaceful afternoon, compared to the busy days we live and work in Shenzhen, Guangdong. I sat in that garden alone, the setting sunshine spilt through the windows, along with the empty chair and formed a tranquil and harmonious moment. That moment released all my anxiety and stress.”

Fan Long

Shanghai, China

2nd Place – Still Life

Fan Long is from Chongqing China, and now lives and works in Shanghai as a mobile device engineer. He holds a Master of Science and is also a Freelance photographer who likes to travel around the world in his free time.

“When I stepped into the corner of the engineering building I saw a sliver of light that went through the gap of two buildings and shined on the white wall. Normally, this wall is a simple white lab wall with a boring switch. With the sliver of light, it changed to a shining surface and the shadows made it look like another planet. After a few minutes, the light disappeared.”

Maddy McCoy

Alexandria VA, United States

3rd Place – Still Life

Maddy McCoy resides in Alexandria, Virginia and is an Historian and Professional Genealogist. In 2008, Maddy began using iPhoneography to capture vanishing historic sites and landscapes and publish them to her blog, Historic Wanderings.
Maddy found that the iPhone dramatically changed the way she perceived and interpreted the visual world.

“The original image was taken during a visit to a surviving slave cabin in Maryland.”

Nicky Ryan

Sydney, Australia

1st Place – Sunset

Nicky Ryan is a professional award winning freelance photographer based in Sydney, Australia. She recognized her creative flair at a young age, further nurturing it through a Degree – BA of Visual Art at UNSW.

“It was the end of summer and was getting slightly cooler so I admired the swimmers doing their laps as it has always needed to be about 40 degrees for me to dive in.”

Yongmei Wang

Chongqing, China

2nd Place – Sunset

Yongmei Wang born in May 1971 and is a teacher of English in Southwest University, Chongqing. He has been fascinated by the magic of photography since he bought his first SLR camera in 2012, and spends most of his spare time learning how to take pictures.

“This picture was taken in Guilin in July 30th 2015. When I arrived in the village Xingping, I was deeply attracted by the natural scenery, the river, the mountain, the bamboo and the tranquility. I rented a bicycle and idled along the Li River the whole afternoon, talking with the local people and taking pictures. I stayed in Xingping for a few days and found out the right place and right time to see the sunset and sunrise with the help of some local people. It has proven that all the effort and waiting are worthwhile, I was lucky to have met one of the most beautiful sunrises in my life with the splendid clouds and the fisherman in Xingping.”

Phillip Nix

Hilton Head Island SC, United States

3rd Place – Sunset

Philip Nix is a travel photographer currently based in Brooklyn, NY. Born in Savannah, GA, and raised in nearby Hilton Head Island, SC, Philip has traveled across the globe to places such as Iceland, Hong Kong, and South Africa. Through his imagery he seeks to reveal the beautiful, powerful, and sublime aspects of the land and people he encounters.

“This image was shot deep in the concrete corridors of Brooklyn, NY, just as the light of golden hour escaped through a separation in the buildings pictured. The image is a combination of a few synchronous elements, with the light playing off the distant clouds in a luminous display of colors, while a plane descends to its destination at one of New York City’s bustling airports.”

Fugen Xiao

Guangdong, China

1st Place – Travel

Fugen Xiao was born in 1957 in Guangdong, China and I picked up a camera after retirement in 2012 and is fond of taking photos with his iPhone because it is such easy tool to capture any beautiful scene.

“This picture shows harmonious scenery of an old couple who started working early in the morning when the sun shined a light in Xiapu, Fujian Province. I focused on the moment and story in front of me.”

Donghai Xia

FuJian, China

2nd Place – Travel

Donghai Xia is a photographer based at XiaPu, FuJian Province, China. He started exploring and capturing the beauty of everyday life in his hometown with his camera in 2006. He is known for his poetic works depicting the ordinary moments in village life in South East Coast of China.

“The photo was taken on Jan 2, 2016 in Suti village, FuJian, China. Suti village is known for over hundred years’ history of the Art of Chinese “hand-pulled noodles” . The hand-making process involves multiple techniques including folding, stretching, pulling and twisting wet dough into very thin strands. The photo depicts the scene of villagers stretching and air drying the noodle strands.”

Shiyang Han

Beijing, China

3rd Place – Travel

Shiyang Han is an editor in Beijing, China. She has a great passion for photography and has been taking pictures with her iPhone since 2014. She loves traveling and enjoys capturing moments both on a journey and in daily life. She wants to make the moments of life stay rather than disappear, and photography helps her to remember.

“This photo was taken at Seda Larong Wuming Buddhist Institute, Sichuan, China. It’s the largest buddhist institute in the world. I was on my summer trip with my Dad from Beijing to Tibet, the road was tough and rugged and took a week to drive. These red wooden houses were marvelous and shocked us. The buddhist institute seemed like another world. Although the tourists from outside world were curious, noisy and lively, the lama and buddhists just went on with their life with calm and peace.”

Victor Kintanar

Cebu City, Philippines

1st Place – Trees

Victor D. Kintanar, known to many as Vic, started as news photographer in 1992 for local newspapers in Cebu City, Philippines.

“This photo is an image of the roots of a wax apple tree, located in a vacant lot just behind my rented apartment in the village of Suba in Argao, Cebu, Philippines.”

Conchi Muñoz

Tarragona, Spain

2nd Place – Trees

Conch Muñoz is from Tarragona a city in the Northwest of Spain. She loves nature, sports and reading. The iPhone has given her the possibility of having a good camera at all times to capture anything that attracts her attention, landscapes, a special feature on a door, grafiti…

“In October 2015, I travelled to Galicia and visited an XIII century Manor house called “Pazo da Oca” which has spectacular gardens. There is a hundred year old tree there and I couldn’t resist the temptation of standing right beneath it and thinking of all the stories it had witnessed through all those years. I took a photo of it of course. My dream would be to have a tree!”

Gianluca Ricoveri

Pisa, Italy

3rd Place – Trees

Gianluca Ricoveri was born in 1950 and has always been devoted to the art of painting and photography and experiencing the interaction of one genre with the other. In 2012 he discovered iPhoneography which allows him to blend these different means of expression. He has been given the opportunity of showing his own works in many personal exhibitions in Pisa, Lucca, Asuni, San Gimignano and Florence. His works are in permanent exhibition at Mobile Digital Art & More Gallery, Boonton NJ. He is a founder artist of The New Era Museum.

“I took this picture in a cool December’s evening on the hills that surround Livorno in Tuscany.”